Anti-Semitism in Europe Today

Thank you for the invitation to speak to the ADL Leadership Event about the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe and the efforts that the U.S. Government and the international community are taking to reverse this trend. I especially want to thank President Barbara Balser and Deborah Lauter for arranging this evening. It is always a pleasure for me to return to the South where my own family roots run deep. I also am pleased to be in Atlanta since my mentor in this position and friend Stuart Eisenstat is a native of Atlanta, as is Barbara Balser and many of you here tonight. I also want to praise the important work of ADL in the United States and around the world in countering anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance. In my work which I will explain tonight, ADL is a partner and friend and I have the greatest admiration for ADL programs such as "Bearing Witness" in fostering understanding and respect.

Anti-Semitism has plagued our world for centuries. From the most pernicious -- the Holocaust -- to subtler, vile forms of anti-Semitism, anti-Semitism dehumanizes individuals and destroys communities. For centuries, we have witnessed the traditional anti-Jewish prejudice espoused by ultranationalists and others who assert that the Jewish community controls governments, the media, international business and the financial world. In the past four years, we have also seen growing anti-Jewish sentiment being expressed by Muslim communities in Europe. Anti-Semitism also manifests itself as strong anti-Israel sentiment that crosses the line between objective criticism of Israel and its policies and the demonization of Israel and Jews. Finally, we have also seen criticism of the United States and globalization spill over to the Jewish community, which is seen as aligned with the United States and associated with international business interests.

Anti-Semitism simply put is prejudice and hatred against Jews because of their religion and ethnicity. Here are four recent examples of anti-Semitism in Europe and Eurasia:

• On May 30, 2003, in the French city of Boulogne-Billancourt, a 17-year-old Jewish youth was attacked outside his home by a group of young men yelling anti-Semitic slogans. The youth is the son of a local rabbi.
  

• On April 22, 2003, eight skinheads stormed the Ulyanovsk Jewish Center in Russia, screaming, "don’t pollute our land," smashing windows, and tearing down Jewish symbols as Jewish women and children hid inside. No one was injured, but police failed to respond quickly. A member of the extremist National Bolshevik Party later was arrested and it was suspected that the events were prompted by the anniversary of Hitler’s birthday.
  

• On June 24, 2003, a number of allegedly North African youths assaulted four Jewish students as they departed their Jewish school in an Antwerp suburb; one fleeing student was stabbed and seriously injured.
  

• Among the four incidents of extremely violent anti-Semitic attacks that occurred in 2004 in the United Kingdom, a Jewish woman was violently attacked by three of her neighbors, who accused her of being Israeli when they noticed that some of her mail was written in Hebrew. She was severely beaten.

In recognition of this alarming increase in global anti-Semitism, Congress enacted the Global Anti-Semitism Act of 2004, signed by President Bush in October. The legislation directed the Secretary of State to issue a report documenting acts of Anti-Semitism worldwide. As President Bush said when he signed the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act in October 2004, "Defending freedom means also disrupting the evil of anti-Semitism."

The State Department released the Global Anti-Semitism Report on January 5, 2005. The report was written by my office and the Departments’ Human Rights Bureau. It is based on information provided by our embassies as well as non-governmental organizations that monitor and report on anti-Semitism. The report itself covers anti-Semitic activities and incidents that occurred in 62 countries from the period of July 2003 through mid-December 2004.

The report also highlights the efforts that many countries have taken to combat the deplorable trend of anti-Semitism. Many countries condemn anti-Semitic incidents when they occur. Leaders have issued strong statements supporting Jewish communities and criticizing anti-Semitic acts. Many countries have passed legislation, increased law enforcement, and increased educational efforts to combat anti-Semitism.

The report has a strong focus on European countries. This is in part because anti-Semitism has increased significantly in recent years in Europe. It is also because European countries maintain better statistics on anti-Semitism and other hate crimes than many other nations. The Vienna-based European Union Monitoring Center has identified France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium and the Netherlands as the EU member countries with the most notable increases in anti-Semitism. These five countries have also taken affirmative steps to combat anti-Semitism by condemning anti-Semitic acts, enacting new legislation to punish hate crimes, and mounting law enforcement and educational efforts.

In addition to this report, the State Department monitors and combats anti-Semitism in several other ways. First, in addition to the January 2005 Global Anti-Semitism Report, the State Department also reports on anti-Semitic incidents through the annual International Religious Freedom Report and the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

We also work through multilateral organizations. The United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Commission in Geneva specifically condemned anti-Semitism in several resolutions last year. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, comprised of 55 states with its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, is an important vehicle for monitoring and combating anti-Semitism in Europe and Eurasia. The path-breaking OSCE Anti-Semitism conferences in Vienna in 2003 and in Berlin in 2004 gave strong impetus to the fight against anti-Semitism. These conferences recognized that anti-Semitism is a fundamental violation of human rights. The United States has welcomed Spain’s offer to host a third OSCE anti-Semitism conference in June of this year in Cordoba to take stock of what has been accomplished to date and highlight what more there is to do.

The United States works with 19 other countries as a member of the Task Force for International Cooperation for Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research. Education about the Holocaust is an essential tool to combat anti-Semitism. This international Task Force is dedicated to promoting understanding and remembrance of the Holocaust, and to addressing at the root the type of hatred that resulted in the Holocaust and generates new genocidal crimes. The Task Force finances teacher training and other Holocaust education projects that will help to create an understanding of the Holocaust and address the underlying cause of anti-Semitism and other forms of hatred.

And, finally, on a bilateral basis we work through our embassies overseas with other governments to counter the growing anti-Semitism we are witnessing. For example, as a follow-on to the Global Anti-Semitism Report, our embassies will continue their dialogue with host countries to increase awareness of anti-Semitism and to discuss ways to counter it.

Combating anti-Semitism requires a three-pronged approach: education, legislation to prohibit hate crimes, and enhanced law enforcement efforts.

We recognize the roots of anti-Semitism run deep and that political developments in the Middle East can have an unwanted impact as well. We do not underestimate the difficulty of reversing its recent resurgence. In my work, I've learned an important lesson from the past: Bigotry and intolerance must be opposed forcefully by governments. And I want to emphasize that anti-Semitism in Europe is from fringe groups or some disaffected Muslim youth. There are no anti-Semitic governments in Europe, which is a distinct difference from Europe of the 1930s and 1940s. Some European countries were slow to recognize the problem, but we can say that important steps are now being taken to combat this ugly trend.

I would also like to tell you about the work that my office is doing on Holocaust issues. Why does the State Department have an Office of Holocaust Issues today, 60 years after the end of World War II? Primarily because of an estimated 600,000 to 700,000 Holocaust survivors living worldwide, especially in Israel, the United States and the former Soviet Union. Many live below the poverty line and it is our mission to bring a measure of justice to them.

A number of Holocaust issues remain unresolved both for survivors and the next generations of their families. Not only did the Nazis murder six million Jews, but they also stole houses, furniture, bank accounts, life insurance policies and other forms of wealth. The Nazis also conducted a systematic program of seizing and destroying countless Jewish community properties – synagogues, schools and community centers. Today, the restitution of private and communal property in Central and Eastern Europe remains a most sensitive issue and is an area in which we have expended considerable time and effort to achieve a "measure of justice." After the War, the newly established communist governments in Europe simply took over property seized earlier by the Nazis. Restitution of property behind the Iron Curtain was generally not possible until the end of the Cold War.

Since the fall of communism, the United States has been encouraged with the progress that many countries of the former Soviet bloc have made on this difficult complex and frequently controversial issue. Still, there is a great deal of work to be done in this area. Some countries still do not have private property restitution laws. Others have found it difficult to administer property restitution laws in a non-discriminatory manner. I regularly meet with my foreign counterparts to encourage them to take steps to ease the way for returning property, or when this is not possible, compensate for the loss.

A very important aspect of our work is assisting survivors of the Holocaust and their families. The State Department negotiated agreements with Germany, Austria and France to compensate Holocaust survivors for forced and slave labor, for personal injuries, and for the loss of assets seized during WWII. Another agreement, supervised by a District Court judge in New York, governs the payment of claims against Swiss banks. My task is to help implement these agreements.

It is clear that no amount of money can ever compensate for the loss of life or the horror suffered in concentration camps by the Jews of Europe. However, our goal is to try to provide Holocaust victims, and in some cases their families, with a measure of justice. Approximately 10 percent of survivors pass away each year, so it is very important to expedite the compensation payments.

In total, approximately $8.5 billion have been made available for claimants, all of which were based on agreements reached in the late 1990s and through 2001 with the countries I mentioned, Germany, Austria, and France. We are constantly working to ensure that the claim process is equitable. As a recent example, last week, the French Government agreed after negotiations I conducted to take specific additional steps to facilitate the payment of claims to French Jews whose bank accounts and assets were seized by the Nazi and French Vichy Governments during WWII.

Along with Vice President Cheney and several members of Congress, I recently attended the ceremonies at Auschwitz commemorating the 60^th Anniversary of the camp’s liberation. Standing at the exact site where the trains arrived and the prisoners’ fates determined was an indescribably moving experience. The anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz reminds us that we must remain vigilant in combating Anti-Semitism today. In speaking of the Holocaust, Vice President Cheney said, "The story of the camp reminds us that evil is real, and must be called by its name, and must be confronted. We are reminded that anti-Semitism may begin with words, but rarely stops with words … and the message of intolerance and hatred must be opposed before it turns into acts of terror." As citizens of the world, we must not be indifferent to anti-Semitism, religious intolerance or genocide.

During her recent visit to Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, Secretary Rice inscribed these words in the guest book: "This is a place that causes all to remember those who perished and to accept that it must never happen again that good men and women do not act."

Sixty years have passed since the Holocaust but it remains essential for us to educate future generations --our future leaders -- about the atrocities that occurred. Tragically, the Holocaust is not the most recent example of genocide in world history. The human suffering that took place in Cambodia, the Balkans, Rwanda, and that is presently occurring in Dafur, is horrific. It is our duty, as members of the global community, to be vigilant and take concerted action to prevent these atrocities from occurring in the future.

Secretary Rice has passionately spoken of the President’s and her commitment to global democracy and freedom. When Anti-Semitism and other forms of ethnic and religious intolerance are not confronted, democracy cannot take root and flourish. We will continue to work with our international partners to fight anti-Semitism with renewed commitment. In partnership with the world community, we must redouble our efforts to foster respect, mutual understanding, and compassion for all people.